Baby Gift Delivered

Today I finally delivered Landon and Sarah's baby gift to them. Yeah!! Good timing considering that they are moving to Virginia tomorrow. I am so sad that they are leaving, but excited for them to have a marvelous experience in Law School. The baby gift for Aiden is something that I have been wanting to put together for awhile - well, since they found out they were having a boy, so January. They decided on the name Lowell Aiden Allred because my grandpa was Lyman Arch, but went by "L.A". Landon was named Landon Arthur to continue the L.A. initials and they did the same for Aiden. I thought that was special. Lowell is Sarah's grandpa's name. I also remembered Landon being excited about the fact that his son would be the first son of the first son of the first son. So, for these reasons I put together a baby gift that includes pictures of those important men. Grandpa Allred (L.A.), my dad (Roger), Landon and Aiden. Scott took it to Landon at work today and it sounds like he really likes it! I am so pleased.
 

Happy 75th Birthday to Fred!

Yesterday, August 9, was Fred's 75th birthday! It was also my brother Bryce's birthday. Happy Birthday to them both. Bryce got to tour all over San Fransisco with my parents so I know he had a great day and I am thrilled for him. Fred got to have a "friends" party. We invited some of his closest friends to a party to celebrate his birthday. It was held at Brian and Rachel's house and it was wonderful. The tables were decorated beautifully and the food was delicious. Brian and Rachel throw a good party. We had a dinner of salmon, "birthday potatoes", ceasar salad and fruit. We then had a raspberry filled cake from Leslie's pastry that even had a sparkler 75 on top of it. Brian played "Happy Birthday" on the bag pipes and we all sang. Each person was asked to bring an item that reminds them of Fred or tell a story of a memory of Fred. That was really nice to hear. We finished the night with a slide show of all the pictures of Fred's life. It was a very nice party and I'm sure everyone enjoyed themselves. Happy Birthday!


 

Loved The Family Visit!

Brielle had a marvelous time with my family's most recent visit. I am so glad that we get to see them as often as we do. Being close to mine and Scott's family was the reason we moved here. There is not anywhere else I could live that I would see my family as much. We counted that we have seen them every month except February since Brie was born. Pretty good huh? I love it. Brielle does too. Every time we would meet up with the fam somewhere everyone would run up to hold Brielle. She got so excited to see them too. Here are just a few of the fun pictures I got of Brie playing with her aunts, uncles, grandparents and grandma great.

Tawna and Brie had a great time together. Brie laughed at just about everything Tawna did. She especially loved going for her necklace and glasses. Oh, and lips!

Evan attacked Brielle's tummy with kisses every chance he got. She obviously thinks it's the funniest thing ever. I love this picture.

Evan got out the guitar at Sarah's parents house and serenaded Brielle. He certainly knows how to captivate the ladies . . . of all ages.

Evan is very daring with other people's children. At least this time he had both hands on her. She loves being thrown in the air.

Funny, but Evan and Brie swapped pacifier to bottle nipple back and forth for a good hour. It must have been a really fun game.

Grandma and Brie read this fascinating book together. She loves the crinkly pages. Annabelle gave her this. It's her favorite toy right now.

They also played with all of her other toys together since she only focuses on one for about 5 seconds.

Grandpa likes to hold her from behind and watch her go like it's a rodeo. She is a wild one.

Brie sat and rocked with Grandma Great for a long time. She smiled at her and then just got so comfortable and cozy rocking with her that she almost fell asleep.

My 31st Birthday

I know. I know. It's hard to believe I am already 31 years old. It's shocking to me as well. I had my birthday though and I am now 31!! It was a FABULOUS birthday. I was so lucky to have my family here to celebrate. It was such a fun day. Scott made me a wonderful breakfast of waffles, eggs and fruit. And as a special birthday present he cleaned the house and did the laundry! Wow. That was nice. I met my family at Temple Square where we took two of my mom's cousins on a tour. They had never been there and it was neat for us to be walked around temple square with the sister missionaries. After touring we had a delicious lunch at The Lion House. They have the best rolls! We then decided to head up Little Cottonwood Canyon to show our visitors some mountains. We went to Snowbird and took the aerial tram up to the top of the mountain (11,000 ft.) It was an amazing sight. We could see through the canyon and out to the Salt Lake Valley and in the other direction we could see mountain after mountain and the Heber/Midway valley. It was beautiful until big black storm clouds started coming our way and we went down. We did get to drive a little further up the canyon to Albion Basin where all of the wildflowers are in bloom. We love going up there this time of year. We got some pictures and walked around and enjoyed how pretty it was. Best of all was that my dad was at such a high elevation and seemed to be just fine. Because of his heart condition he usually can not function at that altitude, but he was the best I've seen him in a long time on this trip. That was wonderful. After the canyon, we all came to my house and had a really good dinner of grilled chicken and canteloupe and salad and baked potatos. And to top it all off . . . . my favorite . . . Marie Callendar's strawberry pie! Yahoo!

So my birthday was great. Thank you so much to everyone who called and sent emails and came to my house to wish me a Happy Birthday! Thank you. Thank you.

P.S. I have been trying to upload pics to this post all day and it won't do it. I am too frustrated. These are the only two that uploaded. One of Brie at the temple and one of us on top of the mountain.

Aiden's Blessing Day

Today Landon and Sarah blessed Aiden. It was a very good family day. We went to the Lehi ward at 9am and the place was packed with our family and LOTS of Sarah's family. Sarah got to show Aiden off to the ward and then Landon took him to give him a name and a blessing. It was a very nice blessing. Landon did a very good job. Aiden did even better. Scott says he was wide awake and smiling up at everyone. He was sweet and content being passed around all day long.

After church we went to Sarah's parents house for a big family lunch. There were so many people there and so much delicious food. We all had a good time. (Especially Krista.) After the party we headed back to grandma's house for some good old Allred Sunday lounge time. We napped, snacked and played Rage. It was a great day with the fam.

HaPpY BiRtHdAy tO eVaN !

Today is Evan's birthday! Happy Birthday to him. To celebrate today he helped Sarah pack and move things and take care of Aiden (hopefully). Tonight we went to Applebee's for Birthday dinner. The waiters even sang to him and he got a strawberry shortcake sundae dessert! Lucky. It was a fun night and I hope Evan had a very happy birthday. He is 19 today. Wow.

 

Picnic On The Creek

Last night was our big summer enrichment activity. As most of you know, I am the Enrichment counselor in the R.S. presidency. We have been planning this event for a little while and I am happy to report that it was a GREAT time! It was held in the backyard of Dave and Barbara Burton, who are in our ward. You also probably know that David Burton is the presiding Bishop of the church. They live on Mill Creek. It runs right through their backyard and it is gorgeous. We had great food that everyone brought and Bishop Burton grilled our hamburgers for us. Everyone ate and chatted and had a marvelous time. The weather was even perfect after we worried all day long about the dark clouds in the sky.

After dinner we had a girl in our ward sing a song and then Bishop Burton spoke to us. Poor guy. July is vacation month for general authorities and he spent his last day of vacation grilling and speaking for us. He told us so many interesting things about the progress of the church and different happenings around the world. One interesting trivia fact was that the first Friday of December is the day that they hold the council of the tithes and decide what tithing money will be spent on. Last year they allocated money to 500 meeting houses and 13 temples. He said, this year the church will build more square footage for religious purposes than Walmart will for retail purposes. Cool huh?

So, it was a fun night for me and Scott and Brie had a fun night at home watching the Red Sox game and making a mess with a banana!

On The Go!

Brielle has become extremely mobile. She moves quickly wherever she wants to go. This means there are a few bumps and bruises on her head, but I guess that comes with learning not to crawl straight into the corner of the wall. She used to always stay in the front room so I could watch her easily. She has now become daring enough to venture beyond the front room and into the bathroom, her room, the kitchen, etc. This morning I went into the kitchen to get my bagel and then had to go searching for her. I found her under my bed! So, now the challenge is to keep everything off of the floor that she could possibly put in her mouth!

As you can see in the pictures, she loves crawling underneath things. She spends a lot of time underneath the coffee table. The books have now all been removed. By the way, these are the tables that Uncle Tracy built for us. Aren't they nice! We love them and obviously so does Brie.

The Marinade Recipe . . . As Promised

I forgot to add the recipe for the delicious chicken marinade that Landon and Sarah made on to my last post. So here it is. I hope you try it and enjoy it as much as we all did. It was the best marinade we have had. I also hope you have an expert griller like we did. Good luck.

INGREDIENTS:
· 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
· 3/4 cup soy sauce
· 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
· 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
· 1/3 cup lemon juice
· 2 tablespoons dry mustard
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1 tablespoon black pepper
· 1 1/2 teaspoons finely minced fresh parsley

Tip from Landon: "We used Olive oil instead of vegetable oil, Dijon mustard instead of dry mustard, and dry Parsley instead of fresh parsley and I think it marinated for like 3 hours."

Tip from Alicia: "We all thought this would also be awesome on grilled shrimp too. Mmmmm!"

Our Last Supper

On Sunday afternoon Landon, Sarah, Aiden and Evan all came to our house for dinner. It was a fun, but sad event. It was the last time that we get to have Landon and Sarah to our house before they move to Virginia for law school on August 11. We really are sad to have them go. We have LOVED seeing them so often and having them come for dinner and hang out with us on Sundays. We'll be sad not to see Aiden again until he is 6 months old! He will be so big by then. Evan will be gone soon too. He'll send in his mission papers when he gets home to Bakersfield. I am excited for Landon and Sarah to experience law school in Virginia and I am definitely excited for Evan to get to be a missionary, but it sure will be lonely without them. Good news though . . . we just have to wait one more month and then we will have yet another Allred kid in Utah! Yeah!! Bryce will be joining us to go to BYU in the fall. We expect lots of visits and lots of Sunday dinners with him. That will be very fun.

Our "last supper" was delicious! Landon and Sarah marinated chicken in the BEST marinade we have ever tasted! I will include the recipe here so that you can try it. It really was awesome. Scott grilled it perfectly and we were all in heaven. Except Evan who did not like that sugar snap peas were served "with nothing on them". We had fun hanging out and talking and eating S'mores made in the toaster oven. Brie had fun trying to "play" with Aiden.